Cafe Electric Zilla EV controller Z1K-HV 1000 72-300volt zzPC2Water cooled CPU, w/ Hairball assembly replaced the Curtis in 2007 for $2700 and got a $400 credit for the Curtis since it still was working.

K and W BC-20 with LB-20 Line BoosterTriac & Motherboard replaced by original manufacturer July 2008 for less than $200 and we love it! The owner is no longer making new chargers but still will repair existing ones in some cases.

50 Miles (80 Kilometers)total discharge, I try not to go less than 50% before recharging, so with normal driving, depending on terrain and weather (wind and temp)I get 17 - 26 miles per charge before dipping down to 50% of charge. It looses a lot of efficiency at speeds over 45. Most people would consider Cheyenne "pretty flat" but to an EV, the terrain here is mostly small hills with some flat sections. The most efficient run I've made allowed me to get 32 miles on a single charge before dipping to 50%. So much of EV efficiency is driver dependent. This is true of I.C.E. vehicles too, but most of us are not attune to it.

EV Miles

Start:

1,800 Miles (2,896 Kilometers)

Current:

8,423 Miles (13,552 Kilometers)

Total:

6,623 Miles (10,656 Kilometers)

As of 5/6/2011

Seating Capacity

2 adults + cargo

Curb Weight

4,060 Pounds (1,845 Kilograms)True total weight done at local truck scale with full tank of electrons (just kidding).

Tires

Original 225/60-SR13 on Precision "dished out" rims.

Conversion Cost

Conversion by SolarMax in 1993 was $9,653.05 We purchased it on eBay from the OUC. Initial restoration of EV electronics and battery systems was done for us by Steve Clunn of Grass Roots Electric Vehicles in Ft. Pierce, FL from 2007 - 2008 (see WebPage and WebPage ). He has done good work and is very fair with his pricing. Steve Clunn is a real EV enthusiast.

There would be 60 fill caps we would have to pull, check, fill and replace if we didn't have the battery filling system. It was installed when the car was being resurrected by Steve Clunn in 2007 - 2008.

Steve had to fabricate a new battery box and hold down rack because the dimensions were different to accommodate 20 6v batteries instead of the previous 10 of the commercial 12v batteries that were originally there. He also added a vent tube behind the driver's seat so that when the charger comes on a small electric fan draws fumes and gases out of the battery box to outside of the car.

There was a Plexiglas lid which had cracked. This has been replaced with a thicker Lexan lid. The lid is secured several inches above the top of the battery box sides so that there is ample opening for air to be drawn in to the box during the charge cycle. The battery box has a thick cloth cover which help filter the air being drawn in to the battery box during the charge cycle. When driving, a venturi effect occurs drawing air out the vent reducing fumes and gas in the car that may otherwise occur during vehicle operation.

More information about the single point battery filling system used on this vehicle can be found at:

Turns a lot of heads here in Cheyenne, WY. Fun to drive. No its not for sale. My wife and I have too much fun driving it almost every day. It is proof that we don't have "wait another 10 years" for the technology to be available. It's been here for more than the past 17 years this car has been around as a fully functional EV. We made the commitment to get this car and put it on the road because we believe we should do what we are able to reduce the amount of garbage being spewed into the air every day. We were not trying to save money with this project. We simply wanted to do our part to make things a little better in this world in terms of the air we all breath. We're working on adding wind chargers and/or solar panels to our home to further improve the clean air benefit of driving this vehicle.